As a leader, I’ve often pondered the delicate balance between structure and spontaneity in organizational growth. It’s a paradox akin to tending a garden. While meticulous planning is essential, nature’s whims can often dictate the final outcome. Much like a gardener nurtures their plants, a leader must cultivate a thriving organizational ecosystem.

This involves strategic planning, careful nurturing, and a willingness to adapt to unforeseen challenges.

My journey into gardening began at a young age, not by choice, but through the influence of my family. Growing up in the French countryside, I was surrounded by the beauty and complexity of nature. My father and grandfather were avid gardeners, sharing tips and tricks regularly, while my other grandfather was a farmer. When I moved to the States, I couldn’t resist the urge to have my own garden.

A garden is not just a collection of plants; it’s a complex organism, much like a company. Yet each plant, like each employee, has unique needs and contributes in its own way to the overall health and productivity of the garden and its sections.

Understanding the Garden: The Organization

Both a garden and an organization require careful planning, nurturing, and adaptation.

Planning: The Blueprint for Success

I plan my garden during the winter, and I adjust my plan each season.

In the winter, I plan what I want each raised bed to produce at a high level except for the one already occupied by my garlic and shallots that I planted in the fall. Tomatoes? Squashes of different kinds? Hot peppers? Should I try to grow watermelon in towers again? I start executing that plan almost immediately, mostly by cleaning up the garden, preparing the soil, and procuring seeds so I am ready to plant in the spring.

Similarly, executives must plan and adapt regularly.

They establish the business focus, set themes, and define KPIs, making adjustments as needed. This vision is then delegated to teams, who can use frameworks like OKRs to create their own detailed plans.

Planting: Taking a Calculated Risk

What about trying something completely new? Sometimes I get overly excited about experimenting with new types of plants. During the pandemic, I attempted to grow pineapples from pineapple heads in the Northeast. While the plants grew, they never produced any pineapples.

Similarly, companies exploring new markets or sales methods should approach these opportunities with caution.

Starting small, learning from early experiments, and scaling up when ready is a wise strategy. For example, my wife loves the ginger I grow, but I stick to just two plants per season because I’m not yet confident about growing it at scale.

Pulling Out: Refocusing

A gardener may need to remove an entire crop due to disease. The first step in controlling the spread is often removing the affected parts or the entire plant. Alas, diseases can spread quickly and a gardener may end up with no more plants of that type quickly.

Sometimes, the choice to remove a crop is intentional—freeing up space to grow something more desirable or better suited to the garden’s needs.

Similarly, businesses may exit markets that fail to generate sufficient revenue or redirect their resources, including employees, to focus on more promising or strategic opportunities.

Planting: Developing Teams

Gardening can guide leaders’ decisions when managing teams.

Choosing Plants for Outcome

Gardeners define what outcome they want before they plant anything. Then they take time to understand plants’ needs and capabilities and match those capabilities to the requirements of the garden and its desired outcome.

In the same way, teams need clear strategic goals to identify their needs effectively.

One critical need is expertise. What expertise should the team have? Where are the gaps? And do they have the right level of expertise in specific areas to achieve success?

Planting Seeds in the Right Spot: Providing Expertise

Different plants thrive under different sunlight conditions, and various parts of my garden receive varying levels of sunlight. This creates an opportunity to align each plant with the sunlight it needs.

For instance, tomatoes and most herbs love the sun, while strawberries prefer shade during the summer. I plant my tomatoes and peppers in the sunnier areas and reserve the shadier spots for strawberries. Similarly, teams need the right balance of expertise tailored to their specific needs.

What level of redundancy is ideal for each team’s expertise? How should their capacity be structured to support this?

Tomatoes also benefit from basil, which repels certain pests and promotes healthier growth when planted nearby. This pairing not only protects the tomatoes but also boosts yields for both plants.

In the same way, a team thrives when expertise and seniority are balanced.

Senior engineers value working alongside junior engineers—they can mentor them and delegate tasks that are exciting for juniors but mundane for seniors. This allows the senior engineers to focus on more complex, impactful work.

Avoiding overcrowding: Balancing Capacity

Each plant needs adequate space to grow. For instance, each giant ivory garlic plant requires a full square foot to thrive. Similarly, a team shouldn’t be overcrowded with too many experts in the same domain.

When this happens, ownership becomes divided, and employees may end up stepping on each other’s toes.

While a team should maintain long-term ownership of its domain—since the domain itself isn’t going anywhere—the team’s size and capacity should adapt over time based on the work required to meet the defined objectives as the business focus evolves.

Optimizing: Maximizing Outcomes

In gardening, time in the growing season and space are limited. To maximize output, gardeners optimize space throughout the year. For example, I grow watermelons, cucumbers, and squashes in towers instead of letting them sprawl on the soil, saving valuable space.

For teams, this means using effective processes and technology to increase velocity, and regularly adjusting them as the environment changes.

Nurturing the Plants: Managing People 

Just as a gardener must consider the soil, sunlight, and water requirements of their plants, a leader must assess the cultural climate and nurture employees. 

Tailoring the Environment for Planting: Empowering

Different plants thrive in different types of soil—acidic, humid, well-drained, or aerated. Similarly, people are driven by different motivations, some intrinsic (enjoyable and fulfilling) and others extrinsic (reward-driven).

Hard soil hinders plant growth, just as harmful behaviors, outdated technology, and ineffective processes impede individuals in organizations. Practices that once worked may now stifle progress, reducing performance and morale.

While most plants need sunlight, their specific requirements vary. Tomatoes, peppers, and squash thrive in full sun, carrots and beets need less, and leafy greens like lettuce can tolerate shade. Similarly, workplace transparency needs to be carefully managed.

A rigid “need-to-know” culture prevents employees from fully owning their responsibilities.

It fosters misalignment, inefficiencies, and disengagement—key contributors to burnout. However, too much transparency can also backfire, overwhelming employees with irrelevant or unhelpful information. Striking the right balance ensures employees have access to the information they need while avoiding unnecessary distractions.

Watering & Feeding: Inspiring

Plants have varying needs when it comes to feeding and watering. Garlic, for example, is a heavy bottom feeder, while dahlias are sensitive to over-watering, especially when establishing their roots. When setting up my DIY automated watering system, I tweak each mini-sprinkler to match the needs of each plant.

When managing people, inspiring them to do their best work is key.

Managers can provide coaching, share feedback, and shape future careers. They can guide employees to better understand their role within the organization and how it aligns with their career aspirations.

Equally important, employees need the autonomy and support to make the best decisions for the business. Managers should ensure they provide adequate lead time for employees to accomplish their projects effectively. This is where regular planning becomes essential.

Weeding & Managing Pest: Managing Performance

A weed is simply a plant that is out of place.

Take crabgrass, for example—introduced intentionally by the U.S. Patent Office in 1849, it’s now a notorious lawn weed. In my garden, mint poses a similar problem. While I love mint, its invasive nature means it can quickly take over. To keep it in check, I spend time regularly removing excess mint alongside unwanted weeds.

In companies, some employees may not meet expectations despite nurturing from the manager.

Even long-term employees can face challenges, whether from promotions or shifting company needs. In such cases, managers may need to explore new roles for them—or make the difficult decision to part ways.

Plants also face threats. Rabbits are the biggest pests in my garden, but they’re not the only danger. Similarly, managers should shield their employees from workplace distractions and politics, enabling them to focus on doing their best work.

Letting the Plant Grow: Psychological Safety

Gardeners don’t create delicious produce—plants do. But plants need time to grow, just as employees need time to complete their work. Managers play a crucial role in ensuring employees have the time and space they need.

Gardeners create clear boundaries for plants and then allow them to grow without excessive interference. Similarly, employees need the freedom to make decisions, learn from mistakes, and grow without fear of jeopardizing the organization. This balance of psychological safety and accountability is essential.

By establishing clear boundaries that allow for trial and error within acceptable risks, managers create an environment that enable innovation and growth.

Just as plants thrive when free from stress, people perform their best in a supportive and inclusive environment—one where they feel valued, respected, and motivated.

Gardening: Being Visible

An avid gardener is in their garden daily, even if just to check on things. Since gardening isn’t my full-time job, I prioritize tasks and automate routine ones, like watering, so I can go on vacation without neglecting my garden.

Similarly, managers need to be present, but they should also be able to take time off without the team being derailed. Regular 1:1s are essential for supporting and inspiring people.

Harvesting the Rewards

All the time and energy I’ve put into my garden has paid off. This year, I’ve harvested a variety of delicious fruits and vegetables. I’m excited to see what next year brings.

By adopting a gardener’s mindset, leaders can create a thriving organization that fosters innovation, productivity, flexibility, employee satisfaction, and business impact.

Leading like a gardener involves planning for success, creating a fertile environment, nurturing individual and company growth, and adapting to changing conditions.